Transformative change of self: The unique focus of (adolescent) mental health nursing?

✍ Scribed by Rene Geanellos

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 112 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1324-3780
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-0979.2002.00245.x

✦ Synopsis

ABSTRACT:

In mental health nursing, inadequate nursing practice research has resulted in a deficit of knowledge concerning the nurse–client relationship; an area seen as the heart of practice. In turn, the specialty has experienced difficulty in identifying its unique domain of practice. Findings from a hermeneutic study into adolescent mental health nursing explicated its practice knowledge. These findings include (i) ‘engaging in therapeutic relationships’; (ii) ‘guiding the potential for change’; and (iii) ‘facilitating positive outcomes’. A higher order finding was named ‘fostering a functional self’. These findings are discussed. Findings point to the nature, purpose and processes of the nurse–client relationship, and to outcomes from that relationship. It is suggested they also represent a beginning understanding of the specialty's unique contribution to nursing; that mental health nursing fosters transformative change of self.